Chapter 78: Interlude Eleven: Fiona - Awakening

Fiona couldn’t help but pull herself up to peek out from behind Maria’s tank top at the room, eyes widening in terror at the sight that met her.

Blood circled a frightened-looking black-haired vampire goth girl. Maria was standing on the couch, ready to dive anyway, and the gangsters, even the ethereal ghost man, had retreated to the doorway. Ruby crystal spears were forming within the liquid.

Luis and Margaret had their long claws out, feral eyes wide and on the girl; darkness frothed off the man’s frame as he prepared to leap through the shadows to strike from a blind spot—she’d seen him play with his prey before as a lesson to do as they said. All of these gangsters, terrorists, and assassins were practically petrified at the sight of the teenage girl.

Eliza had a bright alabaster bow in her hand, a white arrow of energy nocked and ready to be fired as a dozen men in the hallway trained their scary military weapons on her. Yet, the most terrifying part was the girl’s desperate pleas.

"Please! Please! No, no, no! Don’t make me kill you! Astra? No! Why did you cut out on me? Stupid ghost interference. Uh-uh... Wait! Wait! I...I don’t want to kill anyone—Maria, please, j-just—we’ll go, and no one has to die."

The elf groaned, sharp eyes spotting her peeking out. "Dammit, Maria... Luis, I’m getting chills, man. My hands are shaking..."

"Point the weapon away, Eliza! We need to figure this out. Akio, you know what to do."

Margaret and her man’s neck fur were bristling as she agreed with Eliza; the blood was inching closer to them as the vampire begged them to go.

"The hair on the back of my neck... My heart’s beating right out of my chest! Something’s wrong, Luis. How the hell does this bitch make me want to piss myself?! Aye, Akio—"

"I got it!"

"Huh?!" The room tilted upside down, making Fiona’s stomach do a somersault; her hair flipped up with the vampire’s and Maria’s, yet they stayed rooted to the ceiling—but only for a second.

Blood lashed out in a hail of spikes, but the room spun sideways, throwing the gangsters out of the opening before the forming paper doors slammed shut. The liquid split, circled Maria, and pulled her into the air as a crimson disk lifted the vampire off the ground.

Walls, ceiling, and floor twisted like a Rubik’s Cube and sent the furniture tumbling everywhere; the vampire’s crystallizing blood cut everything into ribbons that came near them. As if the walls were illusions, they melted away to show an old Japanese room with two paper doors on every side. The ghost dispersed into the mist, sinking into the floor with laughter.

"We can’t kill you without Relica’s permission, but now that you’re this deep...just try to escape the Paper Maze!"

Maria seemed as stiff as Fiona at the abrupt change of hands; they went from prisoners of gangsters to a vampire.

"What is going on?!" Fiona cried, unable to hold back her tears now. "I just want to go!"

"Aye, la fairy. She with you?"

Fiona choked. "No! I thought she was with you!"

The black-haired vampire girl’s large, illuminated crimson eyes shifted to them. Relief was on her face as she forced a smile and showed off her pointed fangs. She fidgeted with her hair and skirt, seemingly unsure what to do with her hands as her gaze shyly darted away.

"Hi, umm, I’m Scarlet—sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just, if I’m threatened, my blood kind of...kills everything—it’s not under my control. Not that I’ll kill you! I’m sorry! Umm. I think I bought us some time. Heh. Perks of being an OP reaper!" she rambled.

Fiona’s gaze darted to the ground as the blood lowered them to the absolute mess that was the floor, and Scarlet took another deep breath. "Yay...go me, umm, we’re safe, so yeah... Eegh. Cringe. Umm. Did I mention my name’s Scarlet, and I’m here to rescue you?"

"You did," Maria mumbled, grimacing and looking at the quiet space they were in; sugar floated down around them from a broken bag that made Fiona’s queasy stomach punch her. "Aye, so, uh... How do ya know my name, chica?"

"Mine, too?!" Fiona called out, trying to climb out of Maria’s front. The unicorn took notice and held out her hand to let her fall into it. "Thanks, uh... I guess I’ll take help from anywhere at this point. I’m just—don’t mind me... I want to cry, but maybe after we get out of here?"

Scarlet glared at her blood as she made motions that it followed. "Well, I have control over it again. So...that’s good, I guess. Umm. You’ve met Rachel, right?"

"Who?" Fiona shook her head as she stumbled toward a large clump of sugar to pick the grains off the floor and pop them into her mouth. Energy flooded her fatigued body with a sweet taste that put a smile on her cheeks. "Finally..."

Maria hummed, causing Fiona to sit down a meter—might as well have been a street—away to look at them. Apparently, the unicorn did know who this Rachel girl was; the only thing that Fiona’s mind associated the name with was an infamous manhwa girl who shockingly betrayed the MC.

"So, you’re with the hare, huh? Mmm. I guess she did kinda owe me," she mumbled, working around her neck. "Damn. Aye, can you get us to the club floor to save some kids?"

"Oh!" Fiona’s hand shot up, hoping they’d hear and see her. "My friend’s locked up, too. They were using her as a hostage to force me to enchant their people with elemental powers."

Scarlet’s eyes changed to a stunning blue. "No way! You’re an enchanter? That’s so cool! Umm. I’m not very...good with combat," she winced. "I’m only supposed to teleport in and teleport you guys out, but...there’s a lot of twists and turns now. I can’t see through all the walls—my guess is it’s a spatial warp ability. Maybe your guys’ abilities can help? Rachel said you’d know what to do, Maria. What Feats do you have?"

Fiona blinked and looked up at Maria, who looked as lost as her. "Feats... Are you saying we have selectable abilities that we can put points into and level up?"

"Okay, chicas, I’m totally lost on this shit," Maria growled, flipping her hair back and trying to loosen up. "What are you—"

Needles ran down Fiona’s back as Akio’s haunting voice returned, the floor starting to twist slowly. "You think I would—ack!"

"Shut the hell up!" Maria snapped, a radiant horn flaring to life and breaking apart the wooden floor to reveal the carpet beneath them. "I ain’t about your shit right now, comprende? I’m done!"

"Maria! You’re walking a dangerous line. I’ll kill your brother myself, and Fio—son of a bitch!"

The light intensified, making Scarlet squint, and the room returned to normal. "Aye, Vamp, I can’t keep this shit up for long. You’re more creepy than the ghost man, but you got them scared shitless. You have some info to drop ta help? Let’s hear it."

Fiona munched on her sugar, excitement bubbling up within her as Scarlet’s nervousness chipped away, and, for the first time since changing, she found a sense of security and safety with these two. It didn’t take long for the vampire to explain the System; well, longer for Maria, but Fiona got the gist of it pretty quickly.

One thing resonated with her, though. If she could refocus and refine her Feats, then she could save Erika herself. Scarlet seemed skittish about a conflict anyway, but Fiona felt her emotions beginning to boil now that things were coming back under control.

Scarlet made blood disks for them to hover on so Maria didn’t have to keep wasting her purifying force, and a thin shell of her bloody liquid encased them to block out the threatening ghost outside.

///SMENote///

How about a Power Stone Goal?

Every 200 Power Stones this week = +1 Extra Chapter

We could have the normal 2 Daily Chapters... Or +2 Extra Chapters Every Day. The power is in your hands! Or should I say Stones?